Sunday, February 06, 2000
George Washington 78, Xavier 67
Deja lose for Musketeers
BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Recall Xavier's big-time collapse at Marquette just over a month ago, when it blew an 18-point lead? It happened again.
The Musketeers squandered a 15-point halftime advantage Saturday and ended up losing to George Washington 78-67.
The Colonials have three key first-year players, yet they kept their poise when they were down in the second half and played the game at their desired fast pace.
XU was outscored 43-19 in the final 151/2 minutes. This may sound familiar: The Musketeers were within 64-62 with 5:24 re maining, then made one basket the rest of the game — and it didn't come until 45.1 seconds remained.
They missed three free throws, had three turnovers and launched an airball during their next six possessions.
“We say the same thing after every game, but we don't act on it, myself included,” freshman David West said. “This team, sometimes I don't think we're all on the same page. Something's wrong.
“I put the onus on myself. I missed two or three shots down the stretch, close buckets. I missed a free throw. I didn't take a charge when I should have.”
The Musketeers have lost four straight on the road and five of their last six away games. They lost at GW for the third straight time.
Xavier drops to 13-8, 4-5 At lantic 10. The Colonials are 10-11, 4-4.
The losses keep piling up in similar fashion. XU has trouble getting baskets in the final minutes of close games, when it needs them most. It has lost leads several times; Miami coach Charlie Coles, way back on Dec. 8, said he was preparing his postgame consolation speech when XU led by 10 after 13 minutes. He never needed it.
XU was up 16 at halftime Jan. 2 at Marquette and scored the first basket of the second half, only to end up losing by two.
“We've just got make a change,” sophomore Lloyd Price said. “That pretty much sums everything up. I can say a million things, but that's not going to change that loss to a win. So we've got to make a change collectively and individually, and that only comes from the heart.”
Xavier was ahead 48-35 with 15:34 remaining, then the Colonials went on a 15-0 run, during which SirValiant Brown, Chris Monroe and Bernard Barrow — their three hot-shot newcomers — each hit a 3-pointer.
GW took its first lead (50-48) on Monroe's 3 with 12:45 to go. It never trailed again.
When the Colonials used its quick four-guard lineup in the first half, XU went to a zone defense, which appeared effective because GW missed all nine of its 3-point attempts and shot just 25.6 percent from the field.
They shot 53.3 percent in the second half when XU went cold (28.9 percent).
“When the pressure was put on, we couldn't produce,” said XU junior Maurice McAfee, who scored a team-high 19 points, but only four in the second half. “As long as you're out there on that floor, I think — and the people on the team think — we have a chance to win. When it's over with, it's like, (man), there it goes again, we let another one slip away.”
Alvin Brown came off the bench for 13 points, a career-high nine rebounds and a career-high five assists. West added 13 points and 13 rebounds for XU.
Monroe led GW with 26 points. Brown, the leading scorer in the country (25.3 ppg) added 20 and Barrow 14. The rest of the Colonials totaled 18 points.
Coach Tom Penders has said this is a rebuilding year for his team. But the Colonials have won four in a row and are ahead of Xavier in the West Division standings.
“I should've been smart like Tommy,” Prosser said. “I just should've said, "Hey, this is a rebuilding year, we lost three great players,' but I can't bring myself to do that. Tommy's got 10 wins and is as happy as can be, and we've got 13 and I'm devastated.
“Just so many opportunities we had to win the game, this game and several games, that it's gnawing.”
XU senior Darnell Williams was 0-of-6 from the field in the first half. Price played just 21/2 minutes before dislocating a finger. Yet the Musketeers led by 15 points at halftime.
Why? Because the game was at a slower pace than GW prefers, and the Colonials couldn't shoot straight. They came in as the top scoring team in the Atlantic 10 at 81 points a game, but were held to just 24 in the first half.
Monroe had all but 10 of those points. Brown scored five points on 2-of-9 shooting in the first half and finished 6-of-19.
“Honestly, I don't know what it is,” XU's Alvin Brown said. “Everybody wants to win. Everybody's trying to give their heart out there. It's just not getting done.”
Dislocated finger hampers Price
Five questions with Skip Prosser
Xavier women on roll
XAVIER (67)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
West 34 5-14 3-4 9-13 1 4 13
Price 9 0-3 0-0 1-4 1 1 0
Butler 10 1-3 0-0 2-6 0 3 2
Mcafee 37 7-14 2-2 1-5 3 3 19
Williams 38 3-16 0-0 1-3 0 4 8
Frey 21 2-3 5-6 0-7 0 5 9
Brown 32 5-16 3-3 5-9 5 3 13
Turner 19 1-1 1-4 1-4 0 1 3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 24-70 14-19 20-51 10 24 67
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.343, FT-.737. 3-Point Goals:
5-22, .227 (Price 0-2, Mcafee 3-6, Williams 2-10,
Frey 0-1, Brown 0-3). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked
shots: 5 (West, Butler, Mcafee, Williams,
Turner). Turnovers: 19 (Mcafee 7, Frey 5, Butler
2, Williams 2, Brown, Price, West). Steals: 2
(Mcafee, Williams).
GEO WASHINGTON (78)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Iturbe 21 1-3 0-0 3-7 0 4 2
Smith 15 0-6 0-0 1-1 0 3 0
Monroe 34 9-15 7-8 4-6 2 3 26
Barrow 37 4-11 4-7 0-4 5 0 14
S Brown 40 6-19 7-7 1-3 3 2 20
Roma 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
King 31 3-9 2-2 1-10 3 4 8
De Miranda 17 3-5 2-4 1-4 0 1 8
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 26-69 22-28 11-35 13 17 78
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.377, FT-.786. 3-Point Goals:
4-21, .190 (Smith 0-2, Monroe 1-3, Barrow 2-7, S
Brown 1-7, King 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked
shots: 1 (Smith). Turnovers: 8 (Barrow 3, Roma 2,
King, Monroe, S Brown). Steals: 8 (Barrow 3, S
Brown 2, King, Monroe, Smith).
__________________________________
Xavier 39 28 - 67
Geo Washington 24 54 - 78
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 4,762. Officials:
Bryan Kersey, Jack Sweeney, George Demos.
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